Pneumatic leaf-turner.



No. 772,771. PATENTED 007?. 18, 1904. J. W. ALBIN & L. A. SEAMAN.

PNEUMATIC LEAF TURNER.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 31, 1904.

-F l 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

N0 MODEL.

PATENTED OCT. 18, 1904.

J. W. ALBIN & L. A. SEAMAN.

PNEUMATIC LEAF TURNER. APPLIGATION FILED MAY 31, 1904. NO MODEL. 2 SHEBTSSHEET 2.

ATTORNEYS UNITED STATES Patented October 18, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

JEREMIAH W. ALBIN, OF BABYLON, AND LOIS A. SEAMAN, OF MINEOLA, NEW YORK.

PNEUMATIC LEAF-TURNER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 772,771, dated October 18, 1904. Application filed May 31, 1904. gerial No. 210,449. (No model.)

To all whmn it may concern:

Be it known that we, JEREMIAH W. ALBIN, a resident of Babylon, in the county of Suffolk, and LOIS A. SEAMAN, a resident of Mineola, in the county of Nassau, State of New York, citizens of the United States, have invented a new and Improved Pneumatic Leaf-Turner, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

Our invention relates to leaf-turners, and more particularly to the kind used in connection with sheet-music, our more particular object being to produce means for operating the same pneumatically by pressure of the operators foot.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a front elevation showing the leaf-turner as applied to a piano or to an organ. Fig. 2 is an enlarged 'front elevation showing the leaf-turner as removed from a piano or other analogous instrument. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the same. Fig. A is avertical section through the same, taken upon the line 4 4 of Fig. 5 looking in the direction of the arrow. Fig. 5 is arear elevation of the leaf-turner, certain parts being broken away for the sake of clearness. Fig. 6 is a perspective view of one of the toothed sectors used for turning the leaves, and Fig. 7 is a fragmentary section upon the line 7 7 of Fig. 5 looking in the direction of the arrow.

. A pneumatic member 8, preferably a footoperated compression-pump of ordinary construction, is connected with a tube 9 for supplying compressed air to the leaf-turner for the purpose of actuating the same. A board 10 is provided with tongues 11, whereby the same may be secured upon the body of the piano, or other musical instrument, as indicated in Fig. 1. The board 10 is provided with an aperture 12 for containing several of the movable parts. Acylinder 13 is provided with a piston 13 and with a compressionspring 13 the piston being adapted to be moved by compressed air from the tube 9, as will be understood from Fig. 7. The cylinder 13 is further provided with ports 13 13, the port 13 being so positioned that when the piston 13 is at the extreme end of the stroke which it makes under tension of the compressed air the port 13 is opened. to the air arriving from the tube 9. The port 13 is connected by a pipe 13 with another cylinder, 14:. This cylinder 14: is provided with a port 14 for enabling the air to enter from the cylinder 13, as will be understood from Figs. 3 and 5. The opposite end of the cylinder 14 is similar to that of the adjacent end of the cylinder 13, the details of which are shown in Fig. 7. A pipe 14 is connected with the cylinder 14 in a like manner as the pipe l3 is connected with the cylinder 13. This pipe 1A is also connected with avertical cylinder 14, in which are slidably mounted a piston 14 and a spring 14*, as shown more particularly in Fig. 4:. Rigidly connected with the piston 14 is a rod 14, provided with fingers 14 mounted rigidly thereupon, so that when the piston 14 is raised by air-pressure from the pipe 14E the fingers 1 1 are carried directly upward.

Clips 19 20 are mounted upon movable arms 17 18, which are provided with extensions 21 22, carrying other clips, 23 24:. Clips 15 16 are secured upon the board 10 and may be used for holding the outer sheets of the music, whereas the clips mounted upon the arms 17 18 are connected with the sheets or leaves which are to be turned. This part of the mechanism is old and need not be described in detail. The arms 17 18 are mounted, respectively. upon sectors 26 25, as will be unstood from Fig. 2. Washers 28 are disposed between the sectors for the purpose of spacing the same apart. Piston-rods 29 30 are connected with the respective pistons 13 and 14 and are provided with teeth 31 for engaging the two sectors 25 26 for the purpose of actuating the movable arms 17 18. A bracket 31 is mounted upon the board 10 and serves as a guide for the rods 29 30, as will be understood from Fig. 5. The rods 29 30 are respectively provided with a notch 32, these notches being engaged by pivotally-mounted levers 33 34, provided with weights 35 36, these levers being disposed in the respective paths of the lingers 14, so that when the rod 14 moves upward the fingers 14 lift the levers 33 34, thereby releasing the rods 29 30.

The action of our device is as follows: The music having been arranged upon the musical instrument so that the clips are in position as above described, the arms 17 18 are at first in their normal position, both being swung to the right of the player, so as to exhibit to the players view the first two pages of the music to be played. It now being desired to turn a leaf, the player actuates the pump 8 by pressure of his foot, thus sending a pulsation of air through the tube 9 to the cylinder 13. This causes the piston 13 to be driven to the end of its stroke, as indicated in Fig. 7, and to be moved a slight distance past the port 13, so as to leave the same open, and meanwhile compressing the spiral spring 13". The weight 35 causes the lever 33 to drop into the notch 32 of the rod 29, so as to hold the same in its extreme position, (indicated in Fig. 7,) and thus holding the port 13 open. This movement of the piston 13 causes the toothed sector 26 to swing the arm 17 into the position indicated in Fig. 2, thus exposing the next two pages of the music to the view of the player. The arm 17 being held rigidly in position by virtue of the lever 33 holding the rod 29 in thefposition mentioned, nothing can occur to disturb the position of the musicsheet until the player desires to turn another leaf. To do this, he again actuates the airpump 8, thus sending another pulsation of air through the tube 9. The air arriving at the cylinder 13 passes idly through the same and out of the port 13, through the pipe 13, and through the port 14 to the cylinder 14, where it forces the piston 14 outward in the same manner as it did the piston 13. The sliding rod 30 is held in the position into which it is thus placed, for the reason that the lever 34 drops into the notch 32 of the rod 30 and holds the same rigidly in the position which it assumes at the end of its stroke. Both rods 29 30 are now in their outermost positions. The movements of the piston 14" and the rod 30, just described, cause the partial rotation of the sector 25, so as to move the same to the left, according to the view presented in Fig. 2, the parts remaining in the position mentioned until it becomes desirable for the player to turn the music-sheet back to the starting-point. To do this, he again actuates the pump 8. The

pistons13 and 14 being now out of the way, the air passes directly from the tube 9 through the cylinder 13, the pipe 13, the cylinder 14,

and the pipe 14" to the vertical cylinder 14, where it merely raises the piston 14, and in doing this the rod 14 is likewise raised, carrying the fingers 14*. The upward movement of these fingers trips the levers 33 34, raising the same out of the notches 32, thereby releasing the rods 29 30 simultaneously. The rods thereupon spring back to their respective normal positions, the result being that the arms 17 18 are swung to the right according to the view presented in Fig. 2.

The cycle of operations above described may be repeated without limit. When the pump 8 or analogous pneumatic member is first actuated by the foot, the arm 17 is thrown to the left. The next time the pump is actuated the arm 18 is likewise thrown to theleft, and the third time the pump is actuated both arms are liberated and spring back to their normal position to the right, according to the view presented in Fig. 2.

e do not limit ourselves to the particular form of clips used, for, as above stated, these constitute no part of our invention. Neither do we limit ourselves to the exact mechanism shown and described, for obviously the same may be varied within certain limits without departing from the spirit of our invention.

Having thus described our invention, we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. In a leaf-turner, the combination of a plurality of swinging arms, a plurality of pneumaticallyoperated members provided with means for shifting the positions of said arms, a manually-operated pump connected with said pneumaticallyoperated members for the purpose of actuating the same, and mechanism for causing said members to act successively.

2. In a pneumatic leaf-turner, the combination of a plurality of movable sectors each provided with a swinging arm, a separate pneumatic member for moving each sector, and a single mechanism common to all of said pneumatic members and controllable at will for separately actuating the same.

3. In a pneumatic leaf-turner, the combi nation of a board, a plurality of pneumatic cylinders mounted thereon and provided with pistons, mechanism connected with said pistons for moving the leaves of sheet-music, means controllable at will for filling said cylinders successively with compressed air for the purpose of actuating said mechanism for moving said leaves, and for releasing said pistons from certain predetermined positions and restoring the same to their normal positions, and means for automatically holding said pistons in said predetermined positions until released.

4. In a leaf-turner, the combination of a board, a plurality of cylinders mounted therenames to this specification in the presence of two subscribing wltnesses.

JEREMIAH W. ALBIN. LOIS A. SEAMAN.

Witnesses:

FRANK P. SEAMAN, MARY E. TITUs. 

